The 2018 Flu Season Might Finally Be Leveling Off

(NEW YORK) — This nasty flu season, which has been worsening for months, may finally be leveling off. Health officials on Friday said about 1 of every 13 visits to the doctor last week was for fever, cough and other symptoms of the flu. That’s no reason for health officials to celebrate yet: That level is among the highest in a decade. But it’s no worse than last week, and flu activity had been increasing each week since November. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report said the number of states reporting heavy flu patient traffic also held steady at 43. “I thought I was going to die, I really did,” said Ben Bland, a 39-year-old event planner in Kansas City, Missouri, who was hospitalized this week with pneumonia on top of flu. “My lungs felt like they were going to blow out of my esophagus every time I coughed. My body ached head to toe.” This season started early and has been driven by a formidable type of flu that tends to put more people in the hospital and cause more deaths. Making a bad year worse, this year’s flu vaccine is estimated to be only 25 percent effective against that type. Preliminary data released last week indicated patient traffic in doctor’s offices and emergency rooms this flu season was as bad as the height of the swine flu pandemic in 2009. However, the CDC readjusted its numbers down slightly in Friday’s report, meaning this season did not quite match the intensity of flu acti...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized APH flu healthytime onetime Source Type: news